Electric connector with bifurcated member



Jan. 14, 1958 H. w. BATCHELLE'R 2,3

mcmc CONNECTOR WITH BIFURCATED MEMBER Filed March 16, 1953- United States PatentO ELECTRIC CONNECTOR WITH BIFURCATED lVIEMBER Hugh W. Batcheller, Newton Highlands, Mass., assignor to Kent Mfg. Corp., Newton, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application March 16, 1953, Serial No. 342,380 7 Claims. (Cl. 339-258) This invention relates to an electric connector consisting of two members designed to be connected and disconnected at will, one of the members being bifurcated with a slot between the two branches of the fork, the other member being shaped to enter the slot of the first member and to press strongly against the walls of the slot to provide a firm interfacial engagement between the members which is essential for a good electrical connection. An object of the invention is to provide connector members which are simple and easy to manufacture besides being eflicient in operation. Both members can readily be made 'of sheet metal stock. Furthermore the members hereinafter described are made so that they can be positively locked together when connected or can be assembled in such a way as to be held together by a yielding detent. For a more complete understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the following description thereof, and to the drawing, of which Figure l is a plan view of the separated members of a connector embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same;

Figure 3 is a plan view of a modified form of the invention;

Figure 4 is a side elevation of the members when connected together;

Figure 5 is a section on the line 55 of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a section on the line 6-6 of Figure 2;

Figure 7 is a section on the line 7-7 of Figure 4;

Figure 8 is a sectional view similar to Figure 6, but of a modified form of connector member; and

Figure 9 is a sectional view of another modified form of connector member.

The connector illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 consists of two members one of which is substantially rigid, the other being resilient to provide firmly pressed interfacial contact between the members when they are connected together in the manner indicated in Figures 4 and 5.

The rigid member 10 includes any desired kind of means 14 by which the member can be connected and secured to a wire 16 or other conductor. The member 10 is chiefly characterized by a plane tongue 20 extending from the fastening portion 14. A slot 22 extends inward from the end of the tongue 20. The slot may have parallel side walls 24 and 26 or may have side walls which converge inwardly from the open end of the slot as illustrated in Figure 3. The open end of the slot 22 is flared, as at 28, to facilitate the introduction of the member 12 into the slot.

The member 12 has any desired fastening means 30 by which it can be secured to a conductor such as a wire 32. Projecting from the fastening means 30 is the chief portion of the member which comprises two narrow elongated parallel elements 34 and 36 (Figure 6) which are connected by a web 38 and are provided with respective out-turned flanges 40 and 42. The connecting web 38 is resilient and the elements 34 and 36 are spaced so that their outer faces are separated by a distance slightly greater than the width of the slot 22. Thus when the members 10 and 12 are brought together and the elements 34 and 36 are thrust into the slot 22, they must be sprung closer together in order to enter the slot, as indicated in Figure 7. This puts the connecting web 38 under tension which causes the outer faces of the elements 34 and 36 to press firmly against the respective side walls of the slot 22, thus making a good electrical contact. When the bearing elements 34 and 36 are sprung toward each other to enter the slot 22, this results in distortion of the connecting web 38. In order to distribute this distortion as much as possible so as to avoid excessive flexing on any one line, the web 38 is preferably curved to the form of a split cylinder, the elements 34 and 36 being on either side of the split. While the preferred form is cylindrical as indicated in Figure 6, other forms may be employed, two examples being shown in Figures 8 and 9.

A positive locking means is provided to prevent the members from being pulled apart unless the lock is first released. For this purpose a side wall of the slot 22 is notched as at 44 to form a shoulder 46 which faces away from the open end of the slot. A locking lug 50 is struck out or otherwise formed on one of the bearing elements of the member 12. The lug 50 is arranged to engage against the shoulder 46 when the members are properly assembled. This prevents separation of the members until the elements 34 and 36 are pushed toward each other by an external force to enable the lub 50 to clear the shoulder 46.

If it is desired to assemble the members without positively locking them together, one or the other of the members is inverted so that the bearing element 36 which has no lug 50 bears on the slot wall 24. To hold the members yieldingly together when thus assembled, a shallow arcuate recess 52 may be provided in the slot wall 26. As this recess has no definite shoulder it permits the members to be pulled apart if sufilcient tension is applied.

The rigid member can be made with a slot having side walls which converge inward from the open end as indicated in Figure 3. As shown, the rigid member 60 is similar to the rigid member 10 except that it has a slot 62 with side walls 64 and 66 which converge inward from the open end of the slot. These side walls are provided with a notch 44 and recess 52, respectively, as hereinbefore described. To cooperate with the rigid member 60, the resilient member 70 must have bearing elements 72 and 74 which converge and are connected by a suitable web 76 of resilient metal, preferably curved so as to have circular transverse sections like than shown in Figure 6. These members can be positively locked together or not according to the manner in which they are brought together.

I claim:

1. An electric connector comprising two sheet metal members, one said member having a rigid plane tongue with a central slot extending in from the end thereof, the other member having two elements bearing against substantial portions of respective side walls of said slot and resilient means connecting said elements and pressing them against said side walls.

2. A connector as in claim 1, said members having means interengaging when the members are connected to lock said members positively against disconnection.

3. A connector as in claim 2, wherein the walls of said slot are parallel.

4. A connector as in claim 1, said resilient connecting means being of sheet metal formed to substantially cylindrical shape.

5. An electric connector comprising two members, one said member having a plane tongue with a central slot extending in from the end thereof, the other member having two elements bearing against substantial portions of respective side walls of said slot, and resilient means con necting said elements and pressing them against said side walls, said members including interengaging locking means consisting of a notch forming a shoulder in one of the side walls of said slot and a lug projecting outward from one I, of the bearingelements ojf sajd other, member, sai ci lu g being arranged to catchon said shonlderyvhenthe members are connected. I

6 A connector as in claim 5, the other side wall of said 4 slot having a recess therein adapted to receive said lng to I yieldingly hold the members connected together.

7. A connector as in claim 5 the walls of saidislot conyei gingfrom the open end of the slot to theinner'end thereof.

Lillard Feb. 2, 1892 DOW F8b.-2,'1909 Allgeier July 4, 1933 Rudd Aug. 13, 1935 Olson May 29, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS -Tt-:,-,-"."r- Germany Nov. 14, 1925 Great Britain May 24, 1950 

